Reenforced step rail joint



March 27, 1928. 1,663, 19

V. C. ARMSTRONG REENFORCED STEP RAIL JOINT Filed Oct. 8. 1926 3SheetsSheet 1 I IHWINI 'I M March 27, 1928 IQG REENFORCED STEP R IIIIIIINT 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 ,1; J ///1\ B R gwuanl om mtor rnwirong PatentedMar. 27, 1928.

UNITED STATES 1,663,619 PATENT OFFICE.

VICTOR 0.1BMSTRONG, 0F HACKENSACK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE RAILJOINT COMPANY, OF NEW YOBK, 'N. Y.,

A. CORPORATION OF YORK.

REENFORCED STEP RAIL JOINT.

Application filed October 8, 1926. Serial No. 140,333.

This invention relates to compromise or step rail joints for connectingthe abutting ends of dissimilar rails of different height or section sothat the gage and surface thereof are brought into and held inalinement.

Heretofore the general practice has been, in the making of compromise orstep rail joints, to form the bars for such joints of steel or malleableiron castings of a design and configuration corresponding to that of therail sections to be united, besides providing for the steppedrelation ofthe rail supporting base sections. That is a well known constructionopento the objection of placing a cast rail joint in track. Furtherit alsohas been the practice to make the bars for compromise or step railjoints by upsetting or distorting a rail joint bar or shape at itsmedial portion in order to obtain the necessary vertical and lateraloffsets to provide for the surface and gage side alineme-nt of therails.

In stepping down from the higher section to the lower section of the barthe practices heretofore followed in the making of such bars inevitablyweakens the same at its central or medial portion where the offsettingoccurs. That is particularly true in the die press or hammer operationswhich are employed in making a step joint bar from a more,

rolled rail joint shape, such operations necessarily distorting themetal at the points of offset and producing a weakened structure at thevery point where the full strength of the strongest part of the barshould be maintained. Also, in some forms of step bars whereroenforcement occurs at the center of the bar the same is usually in theform of flange or girder reent'orcement extending below the base of thehigh rail. Such reenforcement is objectionable because of interferencewith rail seatin on the ties, requiring at'times either cutting off theflange or girder reenforcement or gouging out the ties to accommodatethe same, the latter expedient being particularly objectionable anddestructive. lso, said type of girder reenforcement for step joint barsdoes not uniformly carry the reenforcement across the joint at themeeting ends of the rails and does not maintain the physical propertiesof such reenforcement in proper relation to the physical properties ofboth the high fishing section and the low fishing section.

Accordingly, the present invention has in v ew the making of acompromise or step rail joint bar by a for ing operation directly froman unshaped blank or billet of sub-. stantially the same area or bulk asthe fin- 1shed bar so that the bar will be shaped merely by the workingof the metal, as occurs in rolling practice, without any distortion orbending strains bein imposed on the bar at any point as it is beingworked or deve oped into its finished shape with reenforced head,reenforced center and with a base reenforcement which does not extendbelow the base of the high fishing section.

A further object of the invention is to provide a compromise or steprail joint bar which shall be stronger throughout than the ordinaryrolled shape which is distorted at the center to provide the steppingfrom one rail section to another, and which shall in fact have a betterdistribution of metal, with no distortion, than any compromise or steprail oint bar made according to previous practice. Also, the inventioncontemplates a forged compromise or step joint bar whose center ormedial portion is stronger than its lower fishing section and may be asstrong or stronger than its high fishing surface, the reference heremade to strength meaning the physical properties, and particularly themoment of inertia.

With these and other objects in view which w ll be understood by thoseskilled in the art the invention consists in the novelconstructmn,combination and relation of features hereinafterparticularly pointed out, illustrated and claimed.

While the invention necessarily is susceptible of structuralmodification without departing from the spirit or scope of theinvention, a practical form, for illustrative purposes, is shown in theaccompanying drawings, in which Fi ure 1 isa pers ective view of aforged step joint bar embo ying the present invention.

. Figure 2 is a side elevation of a compromise or step joint embodyingthe present invention; the view showing the rails in position.

Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 are cross-sectional views of the jointrespectively at different points throughout the medial portion thereofbetween the inside bolts of the joint;

the lines of section for these figures being respectively indicated bythe section lines 3'3, 4-4, 55, 66, 7-7 and 8-8; all of these viewslooking in the same direction and in the center section of line 5-5 thehigh-rail is indicated by dotted lines.

Similar references designate corresponding parts in the several figuresof the drawings.

In carrying forward the invention no change is involved in the generalcharacter of the joint itself nor in the functions thereof, as theinvention has special reference to the bar construction which admits ofutilizing a forging operation to work the metal into the'finished shapefrom a plain blank or billet.

To illustrate the important features of'the invention reference is madein the first place to Figure 2 of the drawings, which includes the railsB and B, respectively of different height and section,,and which must bealined,

and held alined, both as to surface and gage. Also,

in this figure of the drawings the two dissimilar rails are shownconnected or spliced by the step joint bar, generally designated by thereference letter B and formed with the high and low fishing sections 1and 2, which respectively engage and fit the fishing spaces of the highand low rails R and R.

According to the present invention it is intended that each joint bar Bshall be of the same general construction throughout, that is, providedwith the upright web portion 3, a reenforced head member 4 and theout-turned foot flan 'e 5. The head member 4 of the bar prefera ly isprovided with the outer reenforcing rib 6 throughout, and with a wheelflange clearance 7 throughout, while the foot flange 5 engages and fitsthe upper side of the flange of the rail. A distinctive feature of theinvention is the provision of a novel medial or central reenforcementfor the bar, preferably at the outer side thereof only. This medial orcentral reenforcement may assume different shapes, but preferablyoccupies a position between the inside bolt holes designated as, onFigures 1 and 2, and not extending below the base of the high rail. Toillustrate such reenforcement there is shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4:, bydotted lines,'the usual outside configuration of the unreenforced bar ofthe type selected for illustration, and at the outer side of the web ofthe bar there is provided a reenforcing gusset of metal connecting withthe head reenforcement 6, as indicated at 8, and a correspondingreenforcing gusset of metal '9.

sweeping over the lower outer fillet of the joint bar, and this lowerreenforcing gusset of metal 9 is preferably merge'd into an enlargedreenforcing flange 10 which is a continuation, at the center of thejoint, of the outer edge portion of the foot flange of the ing the high,fishing section 1 of the bar and bar and projects substantially belowthe base of the low rail R, but not below the base of the high rail R.

All of the described reenforcement is confined preferably between thetwo inside bolt holes m and between the section lines 4 to 7 inclusiveprovides a section whose moment of inertia and other physical propertiesare approximately the same, or more properly speaking, are approximatelyat least the same as the corresponding properties of the high fishingsection of the bar and are greater than the low fishing section of thebar.

Thus, the special reenforcement described in effect preferably carriesthe full strength of the high fishing section of the bar to asubstantial distance past the center of the joint at the meeting ends ofthe rails so that the medial part of the bar which crosses the joint atits center is stronger than the low fishing section of the bar. Anadditional important advantage of a construction of this kind is thatthe high fishing section 1 of the bar may be combined with any number oflower fishing sections 2, according to the type and section of low railto be joined to the high rail, thus permitting of economy in the use ofthe die parts for makits reenforclng extension past the center of v thebar.

It also will be noted that a distinct advantage of the specialreenforcement described is that it does not extend below the base of thehigh rail and therefore does notcome between the ties in the manner ofthat class of rail joints having a depending girder reenforcementbetween the ties and extending below the level of the tie upon whichrests the high rail, thereby overcoming the objections heretoforepointed out, to the use of the distorted and deflected girderreenforcement for compromise or step rail joints. Furthermore,distinctive features of the invention residein the joint bar beingshaped throughout from the same body of metal and having an unequaldistribution of such metal to provide the elements herein described, andin the feature of employing the special reenforcement claimed with aribbed reenforced-head type of step rail joint bar.

From the foregoing it is thought that the construction and utility ofthe herein described invention will be now apparent without furtherdescription and it will be understood that changes in the form,proportion and minor details of construction may be resorted to, withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention and scope of the appendedclaims.v

I claim 1. A step rail joint bar of a one-piece forging formed with highand low fishing sections respectively, the said bar having an integralmedial reenforcement confined between the inside bolt holes of the barand presenting an enlargement of metal solely at and upon the outer sidof the bar.

2. A step rail joint bar of one-piece formation throughout and formedwith high and low fishing sections respectively, said bar having agraduated enlargement of metal solely at and upon the outer side thereofbetween the inside bolt holes.

3. A step rail joint bar of a one-piece forging formed with high and lowfishing sections respectively, said bar having a medial enlargement ofmetal at its outer side, the said enlargement of metal having aproportional distribution of metal to provide a substantial equivalencebetween its physical properties and the physical properties of the highfishing section.

4. A step rail joint bar of a one-piece forging formed with high and lowfishing sections respectively, said bar having a medial enlargement ofmetalsolely at its outer side, the said enlargement of metal having aproportional distribution of metal therein whereby it possesses greaterstrength than the strength of the loW fishing section.

5.,A step rail joint bar of a one-piece forging formed with high and lowfishing sections respectively, said bar having a medial enlargement ofmetal at its,outer side, the said enlargement of metal having aproportional distribution of metal therein whereby it possesses astrength approximately at least equal'to the strength of it's highfishing section and greater than the strength of its low fishingsection.

6. A step rail joint bar of a one-piece forging formed with high and lowfishing sect-ions respectively, the said bar having a medial-enlargementof metal crossing the vertical plane between the meeting ends of therails and-having a proportional distribution of metal therein to providea moment of inertia greater than the corresponding property of the lowfishing section.

7. A step rail joint bar of one-piece formation throughout and formedwith high and low fishing sections respectively, said bar having amedial enlargement of metal solely at and upon the outer side thereofbetween the inside bolt holes, said enlargement of metal including theunderside of the bar head, the upper side of the bar foot, and beingdisposed below the bar foot.

- 8. A step rail joint bar of one-piece formation throughout and formedwith high andlow fishing sections, respectively, said bar having amedial enlargement of metal solely at and upon the outersidethereofbetween the inside bolt holes, said enlargement of metalincluding the underside of the bar head and the upper side of the barfoot, and being disposed entirely above the bottom extreme of metal inthe high fishing section of the bar.

9. A step rail joint bar of one-piece format-ion throughout and formedwith high eluding reenforcing gussets at the outside fillets of the barand an enlarged reenforcing flange extending below the outer edge of thefoot flange of the low fishing section of the bar.

11. A step rail joint bar of one-piece formation throughout and formedwith high and low fishing sections respectively, said bar having amedial reenforced portion in cluding reenforcing gussets at the outerside of the bar and an enlarged reinforcing flange extending over andbelow the outer edge of the foot flange of the low fishing section ofthe bar.

12. A step rail joint bar shaped throughout from the same body of metaland having an unequal distribution of such metal to provide the bar withhigh and low fishing sections respectively and a medial reenforcementconfined between the inside bolt holes of the bar and extendingvertically from the top to the bottom thereof solely upon its outerside.

13. A reenforced-head type of step rail joint bar shaped from the samebody of metal throughout and provided with a medialreenforcementprojecting solely from the outerside of the bar andintegrated with the head reenforcement.

14. A reenforced-head type of step rail joint bar shaped from thesamebody of metal throughout and provided with a medial reenforcementprojecting solely from the outerside of the bar and immediatelyunderlying the head reenforcement 15. A step rail joint bar shapedthroughout from the same body of metal and having an enlarged laterallywidened head including an outer projecting reenforcing rib, said baralso having solely at its outer side a medial reenforcement confinedbetween the inside bolt holes and immediately underlying the saidreenforcing rib.

0 In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature.

vroron o. ARMSTRONG.

